Gulmit, January 26: The water level in Gojal Valley has started decreasing at the rate of around 7 inches per hour, after a temporary blockade of the dammed Hunza River spillway was blasted open by Frontier Works Organization.

“The frozen surface of the river is cracking and sheaths of ice are breaking away”, a youth from Gulmit told Pamir Times on phone. He said that the water has gone down by around 3.5 feet since opening of the spillway earlier today.

“We have fixed a scale near the lake and are measuring the height reduction”, he further said. Earlier today a large number of anxious people had gathered near bank of the river to see the receding water level.

Lower parts of the Gojal Valley were dammed due to blockade of the river as a result of the Attabad Landslide disaster that killed 19 people and destroyed the villages of Attabad Bala and Payeen, while also displacing the people of Sarat and Salmanabad.

According to sources water discharge from the lake has risen to around 22,000 Cusecs after opening of the spillway.